Cutting Garden Annuals

As I’ve stated before, perennials form the backbone of most great gardens, and are a very important part of our own cutting garden here at Gwynne’s Greenhouse. Perennials and shrubs such as lilacs, peonies, irises, and roses bless our bouquets in their stunning yet usually brief period of blooming. They are dependable and reward the gardener year after year. Annuals on the other hand live their short lives to the fullest. They laugh into the summer days with such zest, that their exuberance leaves an imprint on our hearts for years to come! It is this thirst for life that we love so much at Gwynne’s Greenhouse.

We recently filled planted the annuals our 2015 cutting garden. These include: Dahlias, Pineapple sage, Snapdragons, Tall Ageratum, Lots of Zinnia!, Lighthouse Salvia, Rudbeckia, and a recent favorite, the sky blue Plumbago. These are all great cutting garden annuals that will carry our garden through the heat of summer. I wrote a bit about most of these annuals here but I will spend a little more time here on these tried and true powerhouses that we rely on at Gwynne’s to create stunning gardens.

Zinnias are our especial favorite and so I will begin with them. They come in many different sizes and colors ranging from violet reds, pinks, corals, whites, oranges, yellows, reds and bi-color. We often grow many different hard to find varieties for the commercial gardening arm of our business. These tough as nails plants are heat lovers and can therefore be a bit temperamental early in the spring when nights are a bit too chilly for their tender skins. They cannot stand a freeze at all and will blacken if the thermometer pauses on 32F. That being said, when the heat moves in to stay in July, the warmth will make these babies sing! The bees and the butterflies love their flowers just as much as we love to cut them for bouquets. A variety that well love is the Zowie Zinnia (pictured left) for its hot, hot bi-color fun! Some other cutting garden favorites include the ‘Benary’ varieties will grow tall with large blooms. ‘Uproar Rose’ is another tall beauty. Though not quite as tall, the Persian Carpet Zinnias are striking for their markings.

Persian Carpet Zinnias

Dahlias and Zinnias are garden friends!

Hummingbirds also love salvias!

Late summer glory with red salvias, yellow rudbeckias, and re-blooming perennial Delphinums in the middle.